Sunday, February 28, 2010

Photo Post

This morning we had fun with some of Roxanne's costumes.

These glasses were a birthday gift from Sarah H. They are hilarious! Thanks Sarah!
This is how you get Roxanne to wear her new DJ Lance Rock hat and glasses (thanks Travis!). Skittles. That's what is clutched in that little sausage hand. Bribing is a cornerstone of our parenting style


Below are some zoo photos. I don't take many there any more because it's old news, but I try to remember to take a couple. Just to see how she is size-wise with everything. She's getting more and more fun at the zoo, since she understands so much more. The only problem is that she wants to pet everything. That's why she's pouting in the panda photo. She really wanted to pet him. I did, too.




The two photos above are from the Aquarium. We got free passes courtesy of my once in a blue moon posting on Pecannelog. And Christa being nice enough to let me go. We had a great time, but didn't take many photos because it was so crowded and impossible to take photos. That's what is going on the "family" shot. We were done.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Oh Katie...

You guys, seriously. This dog is so BAD. I have been giving her Melatonin, and for the first day, it totally seemed to help. But not anymore. Today we came home to Katie having peed and pooped ALL over the basement. Especially on Justin's rug. She pees on Justin's rug almost every day, even though I put three peepee pads around the house for her. She pees on one of those, but then still goes on the rug. I've been reading up on how to deal with this kind of behavior, but it seems like the overwhelming consensus is that beagles suffer from separation anxiety much more than other breeds, and that they basically just need companionship. It's getting to be more and more stressful to come home to a mess, and we just aren't sure what to do to help her. We know the tips about "wearing her out" before we leave, but we simply don't have time. Getting two adults and a toddler out of the door in the morning is a nightmare. Especially because we have to leave super early because we carpool. We drop Justin at the Marta station and then go to work from there. In a perfect world, Katie would live on a farm with lots of other doggies and lots of room to roam. That's when she's happiest. But I can't even imagine giving her up, so I'm just going to keep trying to figure out new solutions and pretend like Justin doesn't keep threatening to either take her to the humane society or drive her into the country and set her free (that last part is not a real threat, FYI). Poor Katie. She's nuts. And making us nuts. At least BooBoo the cat is still wonderful. Even though we had planned to let her be an "indoor/outdoor" kitty, she hasn't tried to get out once. And for the record, we were only going to let her go outside so that we could avoid having a litter box and because of Justin's allergies, but so far, neither has been a big problem.

In other news, Roxanne's poop issues are getting much much better. The last two days have involved a LOT of pooping (sorry for too much information, but I know some of you are secretly interested). This afternoon marks the first time that she has sat on the potty and actually pushed her poops out on her own, which she has done roughly 872 times. I guess she has a lot of catching up to do... Regardless, I'm thinking it will make potty training much much easier. But it comes with some new "issues" that we've never had to worry about. Like tonight, when she had 3 baths. She pooped in the first one, peed in the second one before jumping up to tell me she had to get out and poop, and then the third one, which was clean, but short, since she had to get out again to go to the bathroom. And of course, between each one, I had to scrub and sanitize the tub. But I didn't want to punish her and not let her take a bath (she LOVES baths) since all of this is new and she's been a real trooper.

Enough about poop... Just in case I hadn't mentioned it (because I can't remember if I have) we are probably going to have our first filming experience on March 30. We're pretty sure that's when they will film us meeting with the designer and seeing what his plans are for the house. Then on May 17, they will start filming at our house. We had to sign all of the releases and read the rules. Everything looks fine, but it says we have to provide "offsite" care for our animals and our child during filming. We think we'll have Roxanne covered, but I'm sure after reading that first paragraph, all of you will be knocking down the door to watch Katie for us during the 2 to 3 weeks that filming will take. Sigh. We'll figure it out. I also would love to find a way to drop about 50 pounds before filming, so if anyone has any tips, or can hook me up with reduced cost plastic surgery, send me an e-mail. I'm all ears. I'm trying to use our new elliptical as much as possible, and stick to my Weight Watchers, but I've definitely been struggling. Especially since weaning. Apparently that extra 500 calories a day that nursing burns really was helping me. Oh well. At least Justin likes me the way that I am. Genetics are not in my favor in that arena. Let's hope Roxanne gets Justin's metabolism. Although we are trying very hard to raise her to be active and eat well.

One of her favorite things to say is "get up! move your body!" and make us all dance together. She knows where the iPod lives on the credenza, and goes to it and asks to dance. When we have dance parties, EVERYONE has to join in. If you sit down or leave the room, she throws a fit. She even tries to get Katie in on it. Sometimes Katie will let her hold her front paws and sway a little. Other times she pretends she is sleeping. But I know Katie secretly likes it. Roxanne's favorite music to dance to is her Yo Gabba Gabba CD, but she likes almost everything that we play. She really likes Lilly Allen, and some dancy indie rock bands that Justin put on the iPod. I won't mention names because it will just make me sound silly and snobby. But they are good, and it's good that she likes them. She also likes Roy Orbison and Bonnie Prince Billy, but definitely prefers fast dancing to the more mellow slow songs. Her dances are SO good. Lots of silly movements and shaking. It's positively lovely to watch. I'll try and video tape it soon. I think the evenings are the times when I'm most glad we don't have a TV. She mainly watches it in the morning sometimes (on our laptop) or on the weekends in the early morning when I'm trying to get a little extra rest. Weekday evenings are not TV times for her. Just me. :)

Alright. I'll post photos soon, I promise. But we've got friends coming for dinner tomorrow and every dish in the house is in our sink right now. We should have the new dishwasher running this weekend. Yay! Both of us are really sick of not having one. Thanks to Dad and Colleen for giving us their old one! It puts the rest of our kitchen to shame...

Friday, February 19, 2010

Sickies...

All three of us are sick. I am taking antibiotics though, so I've been feeling much better. I went to a doc in the box Wednesday night and said I thought I had a sinus infection. The doctor agreed, and then offered me a choice of like five antibiotics. Um, since when do doctors let the patient pick out which drugs they want? Isn't that part of his job? Yeah. I don't know what I got, but it's making me feel better. Justin thinks he just has another cold and doesn't want to take anything. Roxanne has had a cold for as long as me, which has been for like a month... But today she was running a fever, so I'm going to try and get her into the doctor tomorrow. It's always tough getting in there on a Saturday morning, especially trying to get through on the phone line, but I'm just so happy that they are open on Saturdays that I will call a few times and not mind the busy signal.

Roxanne had a visit with a Pediatric GI specialist on Thursday morning. It seemed to go pretty well, and we are relieved to find out that she doesn't have anything physiologically wrong. She just hates pooping. And now she has such a back-up, she basically is getting painful urges constantly. So we have to try and figure out a way to get obscene amounts of Miralax into her system. Three capfuls a day! Wow. But it should take care of the problem, and we can slowly wean her down to a smaller dose over the coming months. We are just relieved to have some answers. Especially since he told Justin that the Benefiber we've been giving her is actually making the problem worse. Oh well.

Oh, and as Jim reminded me in my comment, I did in fact submit my graduate school application. I made it extremely hard on myself, and cut it down to the wire, but I did it. It's in. Phew! Now I'm planning to get back to work on the house projects. My to-do list is endless... We also bought an elliptical for the house, and I've been really really enjoying it. Justin plans to try it this weekend for the first time. It fits so well in our basement, and really helps me with stress (and hopefully some weight loss...). We hope everyone is doing well!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Obligatory Snow Photos!

Here's Roxanne in the front yard, with her "snow boots" that I fashioned out of some grocery bags. Scoff if you will, but those bad boys totally kept Roxanne's feet and lower legs totally dry while we were tramping around in the yard. I was surprised that she kept them on, since she threw a fit when I put her rain boots on. Hence the grocery bags over her sneakers... Granted, the rain boots are still a size too big, but I put a sock down in the toe, so I thought it might be OK. We are so classy.
Here's me and Roxanne in what would end up being a failed attempt at a snowman. My gloves kept freezing up, and Roxanne just got bored when things weren't happening fast enough.
Would any snow day complete without some snow ball fighting? Me thinks not. Doesn't our deck look pretty in the snow?
Roxanne is wearing her puppy mittens here. She was wonderful about keeping them on. Usually she fights with me and tries to pull them off constantly, but she threw a fit with these any time one fell off. Which was every five minutes. I think her favorite part of the snow was shaking it off the bushes and branches. And stomping on it.
The bottom photos are of Roxanne's first homemade hot chocolate experience. Which was definitely a fun one. She's been really into "cheers"-ing us lately, so we did have a pretty major spill when she tried to "cheers" Justin with her hot chocolate and instead splashed it all over the floor and wall. Oops. But it cleaned up nicely, and she still had some hot chocolate to enjoy. Then they played Play-dough for a while, which is always one of her favorite things. The bottom photo is Roxanne making a "funny face," which is also one of her favorite things ever. Sigh.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Family Resemblance

Roxanne
Justin
Adriane


Yes, Happy Valentine's Day! But I don't have anything to say about that. What I'm interested in is figuring out if Roxanne looks like me or like Justin. So here are some photos of me and Justin and Roxanne, all taken in the same general time frame. I know nobody likes to leave comments anymore, but please give feedback on who you think she looks like. I feel like I can't tell.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I'm actually using a camera cord... Gross.






So apparently my jump drive has kicked the bucket. Probably from all of the times I blindly jab it into the back of the lap top without actually checking to see if I'm lined up with the USB port or the telephone jack. Someday I'll replace it and be more gentle. In the meantime, I was able to dig out the camera accessories, and lo and behold, there is a handy dandy cord that let's me upload my photos. So here are some. It was pointed out to me by a friend that there are still some of you reading the blog, and those of you who are reading it would like to see Roxanne's photos. You guys, she is getting so old. It's just insane. My baby fever is kicking in now that she is so big. Maybe some day when life gets less complicated, we'll think about a sibling. In the meantime, I'm watching those baby shows on TLC and getting weepy. I CAN'T HELP IT! IT'S BIOLOGICAL! I totally brought home a full-sized bassinet from a consignment sale last weekend, and I thought Justin was going to die. Or get a divorce. But everyone relax, it was not bought with the intention of putting a baby in it. It would probably be a death trap... No, it's a 1950's bassinet, complete with plastic wicker (kind of like a cheap Easter basket) and plastic quilted lining, with adorable bunnies and babies and ducks in that so so cute 1950's kind of design. And it's got ALL of it's parts, which includes folding legs with wheels, the floor length lacey sheet that covers said legs, a little hood that is moveable, and even the spotless mattress, also covered in the cutesy design. It sits perfectly under a window in Roxanne's room and holds ALL of her stuffed animals, so she can have some extra cubbies in the Expedit for all of her other toys. Oh, and the real reason I couldn't leave without it: it was $2.50! These ladies at the Morningside consignment sales are perfect for me. They can keep their overpriced Joovey strollers and Ralph Lauren onesies, I'm going for the kitschy stuff. I also found Roxanne a Yo Gabba Gabba dance mat, which has become a nightly ritual. It's AWESOME. It's pretty small, but it's in pretty good shape, and it was under $4. It is loud, and sometimes the sounds are pretty abrasive, but we're pretty worn down by this point. She dances on it while Justin plays her Muno guitar, and it's like a Yo Gabba Gabba discotheque.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Camera Issues

Sorry everyone, I've been having problems with uploading photos. The laptop is not recognizing my uploading tool, and I hate using the basement computer because I have to sit in a chair and not on the comfy couch to use it... We've been very busy lately, and also sick (ugh). Poor Roxanne and her runny nose... She gets very frustrated at having to breathe through her mouth and screams about her boogers hurting her. Poor little lady. I've got a cold, too. I almost wonder if we have all been passing the same one around for weeks. Ick. Last weekend was super busy, and we hosted an engagement party for Ariel and Luke. People were at our house until 2:30am, and Roxanne only woke up once! Whew! We felt so young again... Although when Roxanne woke up at 6:30 Sunday morning, I didn't feel so young. I felt very very old.

Roxanne is still becoming more and more of a kid. I know I keep saying that, but it's just crazy. She has started saying things that are just shocking to me... Like, I'll ask her if I can have a kiss, and she'll say "Of course you can!" And she has started giving Justin really long-winded accounts of our day at the dinner table at night. She especially loves telling him about when the "boys" got into trouble and had to have time outs. She has also been talking about the bunny that "came in the mail." It's a plush "Calico Critter" that we got for free for joining their mailing list. She was just really excited that she got something in the mail. I didn't think that it would be that exciting at this age, but she was thrilled!

I'm thinking we need to get Roxanne some dress up clothes ASAP. She has started pulling all of her clothes out her dresser and draping them over her. Sometimes she wants help, but mostly, she is happy just to have them haphazardly placed on her head or arms or legs. I put her in her ballerina leotard the other night, complete with her wings, and she was dancing around very delicately saying "I a ballerina, Mama. I dance like a ballerina." She is also really into families and having a "mama," "daddy" and "little tiny baby" of whatever toy she is playing with. She's having a resurgence in her baby interest. The other day she also threw a fit because she kept saying she was a big sister, and we were telling her she wasn't, and she just really really didn't like that. So we finally decided that she was Katie and Boo Boo's big sister. I think the "family" episode of Yo Gabba Gabba is taking over her brain. She is so obsessed with that show. At least me and Justin like it, too!